Mike's Railroad Crossing Forum

Great that the safetran type 1 is still there . Shame that it sounds a bit off. I knew about the crossing upgrade for about 2 months because Level Crossing Fan went there around Easter and found new bases for signals . Sad . I didn’t include that teardrop at swan hill in my list as I knew it’s was going to get removed.

McK&H.Aust wrote: Mon Jun 24, 2019 8:24 am Just discovered that the McCallum St crossing at Swan Hill was upgraded with gates last weekend (June 21 - 24) https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-35.338 ... 312!8i6656 so it's RIP to another teardrop bell

Sadly the semaphore and searchlight signals at Swan Hill were also replaced by new signals and thus another nice country station has been "modernized". The upgrade is detailed in this document beginning on page 23 and there is also a new signalling diagram on the last page http://www.railsws.com.au/s/WON-25-2019.pdf

Well, another Teardrop bites the dust . Still, it was lucky to have lasted so long in the first place. That document is a very interesting read. I also noticed on page 22 that it mentions the shifting of one of the Coburns Road signals in Melton to make way for the installation of a second track:
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-37.703 ... 312!8i6656

As usual, this is very poor planing from V/Line and Victrack as the signals were only upgraded around late 2017/early 2018 (after the duplication project was announced and minor ground works were already starting to take place). Why didn't they just install the new signals further back in the first place? In fact, the whole idea of ripping out the entire original installation (which already had flat gates, E-Bells and LED lights) and starting completely from scratch again seems so pointless to me.

chris96 wrote: Tue Jun 25, 2019 12:58 am

McK&H.Aust wrote: Mon Jun 24, 2019 8:24 am Just discovered that the McCallum St crossing at Swan Hill was upgraded with gates last weekend (June 21 - 24) https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-35.338 ... 312!8i6656 so it's RIP to another teardrop bell

Sadly the semaphore and searchlight signals at Swan Hill were also replaced by new signals and thus another nice country station has been "modernized". The upgrade is detailed in this document beginning on page 23 and there is also a new signalling diagram on the last page http://www.railsws.com.au/s/WON-25-2019.pdf

Well, another Teardrop bites the dust . Still, it was lucky to have lasted so long in the first place. That document is a very interesting read. I also noticed on page 22 that it mentions the shifting of one of the Coburns Road signals in Melton to make way for the installation of a second track:
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-37.703 ... 312!8i6656

As usual, this is very poor planing from V/Line and Victrack as the signals were only upgraded around late 2017/early 2018 (after the duplication project was announced and minor ground works were already starting to take place). Why didn't they just install the new signals further back in the first place? In fact, the whole idea of ripping out the entire original installation (which already had flat gates, E-Bells and LED lights) and starting completely from scratch again seems so pointless to me.

Might've just taken the existing signal and moved it to a new foundation.

McK&H.Aust wrote: Mon Jun 24, 2019 8:24 am Just discovered that the McCallum St crossing at Swan Hill was upgraded with gates last weekend (June 21 - 24) https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-35.338 ... 312!8i6656 so it's RIP to another teardrop bell

Sadly the semaphore and searchlight signals at Swan Hill were also replaced by new signals and thus another nice country station has been "modernized". The upgrade is detailed in this document beginning on page 23 and there is also a new signalling diagram on the last page http://www.railsws.com.au/s/WON-25-2019.pdf

Sad to hear about another teardrop going, and also the searchlights. They should have just put the new gates on a different signal next to the old ones, save money.

Today I found this video talking about the Kerang 2007 incident. Sad . In it it shows some shots of crossings including one of the Kerang one which looks like it had Mck&h incandescent lights on a Westinghouse crossarms. There’s a couple of other crossings and one of them is some shots of the crossing near Tyabb station. In the shots it shows the crossing active with led lights and when it was gateless with a teardrop bell. I think. It also shows a A class diesel at Tyabb station with smashed up parts of a old VW bug next to it. I found some news articles on it and it says that there was a accident there in 2008 and that drivers are usually distracted by the rising sun and traffic lights ahead.
https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victo ... a2c5760f64

There’s also some shots of the Bungower road crossing further up the line where it looks like a smash happened . I saw a news article on this somewhere but can’t seem to find it. Oddly this crossing was one of the later crossings on the line to get gates around 2009-10 while other crossings like Tyabb got them around 2008-09.
Here’s the video

So today I visited the NRM, and I found out some amazing stuff!
So first of all, the Bell that replaced the stolen/dead Teardrop is a Safetran Mechanical Bell.
And most exciting of all, I can confirm the existence of several more Bryant Zinc Bells, and a 1st gen US&S Teardrop in South Australia! Unfortunately I wasn’t able to stay at the bell pile for long but I did ring some of the bells.
Photo proof (picture is too big for the website) https://mobile.twitter.com/RedhenSar/st ... 24/photo/1

RedhenRailcarSAR wrote: Sun Jun 30, 2019 5:22 am So today I visited the NRM, and I found out some amazing stuff!
So first of all, the Bell that replaced the stolen/dead Teardrop is a Safetran Mechanical Bell.
And most exciting of all, I can confirm the existence of several more Bryant Zinc Bells, and a 1st gen US&S Teardrop in South Australia! Unfortunately I wasn’t able to stay at the bell pile for long but I did ring some of the bells.
Photo proof (picture is too big for the website) https://mobile.twitter.com/RedhenSar/st ... 24/photo/1

Great picture, would be interesting to know which crossings the bells came from. It would be nice if they had some of them on display with some information about them (specially the Union teardrop), it's certainly not good to keep them laying on the ground.

On a sad note it seems the crossing at General Holmes Drive, Mascot was closed on Saturday June 29 https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-33.933 ... 312!8i6656

Haven't seen anything on the ARTC website so I'm guessing the signals are still in place. Here are some details of the closure https://www.rms.nsw.gov.au/documents/pr ... 919-06.pdf

RedhenRailcarSAR wrote: Sun Jun 30, 2019 5:22 am So today I visited the NRM, and I found out some amazing stuff!
So first of all, the Bell that replaced the stolen/dead Teardrop is a Safetran Mechanical Bell.
And most exciting of all, I can confirm the existence of several more Bryant Zinc Bells, and a 1st gen US&S Teardrop in South Australia! Unfortunately I wasn’t able to stay at the bell pile for long but I did ring some of the bells.
Photo proof (picture is too big for the website) https://mobile.twitter.com/RedhenSar/st ... 24/photo/1

Wow, what a fantastic find! It's great to know that another US&S Teardrop currently exists in Australia! That means there are at least three in the country right now! I wonder if there are any others still lurking out there in private collections?
Could this be the same bell that was on display at Belair station in the 80's? Here's a comparison of the two bells (I hope you don't mind me using your photo here):


It would be great if the NRM would refurbish the bell and put it on display. Do they realize the significance of the bell? If not, someone really needs to let them know as it's sad to see it so neglected. Also nice to hear about the additional Bryant Zinc bells you found. The NRM really aren't short of interesting vintage equipment!

chris96 wrote: Mon Jul 01, 2019 6:09 am

RedhenRailcarSAR wrote: Sun Jun 30, 2019 5:22 am So today I visited the NRM, and I found out some amazing stuff!
So first of all, the Bell that replaced the stolen/dead Teardrop is a Safetran Mechanical Bell.
And most exciting of all, I can confirm the existence of several more Bryant Zinc Bells, and a 1st gen US&S Teardrop in South Australia! Unfortunately I wasn’t able to stay at the bell pile for long but I did ring some of the bells.
Photo proof (picture is too big for the website) https://mobile.twitter.com/RedhenSar/st ... 24/photo/1

Wow, what a fantastic find! It's great to know that another US&S Teardrop currently exists in Australia! That means there are at least three in the country right now! I wonder if there are any others still lurking out there in private collections?
Could this be the same bell that was on display at Belair station in the 80's? Here's a comparison of the two bells (I hope you don't mind me using your photo here):


It would be great if the NRM would refurbish the bell and put it on display. Do they realize the significance of the bell? If not, someone really needs to let them know as it's sad to see it so neglected. Also nice to hear about the additional Bryant Zinc bells you found. The NRM really aren't short of interesting vintage equipment!

Side note first, I heard from a fellow railfan in Adelaide on YouTube (vacbag, the first person I know who found out about the bell pile) that the teardrop bell was replaced because it was taking up too much power, and it was frying the transformer so they got that Safetran bell, I assume which is softer on the transformer. I also heard from them that the teardrop went in the pile. Well to be honest the bells aren’t really in a pile, they are in the yard though.
The NRM seems to take care of its equipment though, but I think some work might be needed on some of the equipment, for example the wig wag at ground level
Is sounding flat and one of the bell hammers isn’t working. That may be related to the cold weather though, I heard wig wags work better in warmer weather.
I also forgot to mention there are also multiple Mck&h and Westinghouse Teardrops, this includes cast iron Mck&h ones. I also found a crossing signal with a Westinghouse base, Presumably Mck&h lights, and a Bryant Zinc bell. The signal is painted in Black and White Stripes as the original SAR signals were.
I’m not too sure on the Belair Display Signal, but the bells both look the same from what I can tell. The rail heritage groups all seem to have a nice working relationship so its possible that the Belair Station group passed it to the NRM, but I think someone stole the belair display signal Teardrop, that I think is the only valid reason for replacing bells on the the signal.
Next time I go to the NRM, I’m gonna try and get a second visit to that yard and hopefully suggest the restoration of that bell, (or ask for it, haha).

RedhenRailcarSAR wrote: Tue Jul 02, 2019 7:55 am

chris96 wrote: Mon Jul 01, 2019 6:09 am

RedhenRailcarSAR wrote: Sun Jun 30, 2019 5:22 am So today I visited the NRM, and I found out some amazing stuff!
So first of all, the Bell that replaced the stolen/dead Teardrop is a Safetran Mechanical Bell.
And most exciting of all, I can confirm the existence of several more Bryant Zinc Bells, and a 1st gen US&S Teardrop in South Australia! Unfortunately I wasn’t able to stay at the bell pile for long but I did ring some of the bells.
Photo proof (picture is too big for the website) https://mobile.twitter.com/RedhenSar/st ... 24/photo/1

Wow, what a fantastic find! It's great to know that another US&S Teardrop currently exists in Australia! That means there are at least three in the country right now! I wonder if there are any others still lurking out there in private collections?
Could this be the same bell that was on display at Belair station in the 80's? Here's a comparison of the two bells (I hope you don't mind me using your photo here):


It would be great if the NRM would refurbish the bell and put it on display. Do they realize the significance of the bell? If not, someone really needs to let them know as it's sad to see it so neglected. Also nice to hear about the additional Bryant Zinc bells you found. The NRM really aren't short of interesting vintage equipment!

Side note first, I heard from a fellow railfan in Adelaide on YouTube (vacbag, the first person I know who found out about the bell pile) that the teardrop bell was replaced because it was taking up too much power, and it was frying the transformer so they got that Safetran bell, I assume which is softer on the transformer. I also heard from them that the teardrop went in the pile. Well to be honest the bells aren’t really in a pile, they are in the yard though.
The NRM seems to take care of its equipment though, but I think some work might be needed on some of the equipment, for example the wig wag at ground level
Is sounding flat and one of the bell hammers isn’t working. That may be related to the cold weather though, I heard wig wags work better in warmer weather.
I also forgot to mention there are also multiple Mck&h and Westinghouse Teardrops, this includes cast iron Mck&h ones. I also found a crossing signal with a Westinghouse base, Presumably Mck&h lights, and a Bryant Zinc bell. The signal is painted in Black and White Stripes as the original SAR signals were.
I’m not too sure on the Belair Display Signal, but the bells both look the same from what I can tell. The rail heritage groups all seem to have a nice working relationship so its possible that the Belair Station group passed it to the NRM, but I think someone stole the belair display signal Teardrop, that I think is the only valid reason for replacing bells on the the signal.
Next time I go to the NRM, I’m gonna try and get a second visit to that yard and hopefully suggest the restoration of that bell, (or ask for it, haha).

That's very interesting information indeed! I didn't realize that Teardrop Bells were harder to run then other models. That could also be another factor in why there are so few left these days. I'll have to get back to the NRM again sometime as I havern't been there in years! They probably have the most amount of M-Bells in SA at this point.

I also have a few interesting bits of news I'd like to share. I'll start off with something pretty unusual. The Keon Parade crossing in Reservoir, VIC has always had four Hybrid bells (one for each gate post). However, for some reason only two of the Hybrids actually worked. The ones in the middle sat there doing nothing. Here's the crossing in action in a video from Stuart Hunt:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sKCV5Ufa00&t=271s

This is the crossing on street view:
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-37.694 ... 312!8i6656

Bizarrely, the middle signal's Hybrid Bell on the South Morang side of the crossing has been replaced with a GS E-Bell, even though it still doesn't do anything! Here's some photos I took today:




Has anyone got any ideas as to what on earth could be going on here?

In other news, the last remaining Barker Technics E-Bells on the Upfield line at Union St, Brunswick have sadly been replaced with GS Type 3's. The crossing has also received new WCH gate mechs. Here's some pictures:




The Macaulay Rd and Arden St crossings in North Melbourne are currently still untouched. However, I'm sure it won't be long before they're "upgraded" too.

On a lighter note, the original non-adjusted Genral Signals Type 1 at Hutton St in Thornbury (one of the oldest E-Bells in Melbourne) is still there and sounding very healthy!:


I've noticed that all of the old normal sounding Type 1's in Melbourne have an extra grill attached to them:
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-37.755 ... 312!8i6656

I guess this was done by Connex (Melbourne's rail operator at the time when these were installed in 2003-04) as a way the further weatherproof and protect the units. I must say, they've done very well to last for over 15 years. That's like an eternity in E-Bell years!